This week’s casino news starts off in Chicago where we have a couple of important headlines to share. We’ll start with the casino license, which has finally been doled out.
Chicago Chooses Bally’s For New Casino
We have been watching a year-long selection process for the new casino property in Chicago take place and now we have a winner. Finally, an operator has been chosen by the city and mayor Lori Lightfoot has announced that they will be choosing Bally’s Corporation — formerly known as Twin River Worldwide Holdings.
Bally’s is planning to invest roughly $1.7 billion into the new property that should be opening up over 3,000 permanent casino jobs and 3,000 construction jobs. That will be a boon on the local economy.
The company also ended up paying $40 million straight up after signing their Host Community Agreement. On top of that, they are set to pay an additional $4 million annually.
The reason that the city wanted to go with Bally’s project was that they were the only company that didn’t have another competing casino in Chicago. The other two finalists were Hard Rock and Rush Street Gaming – each with other casino gambling options in the area.
Caesars Is Now Exclusive Gambling Partner For Chicago White Sox
Sticking with the city of Chicago, the White Sox have become the latest professional sports team to announce a new partnership. This time, they are coming together with Caesars Entertainment in order to make them the exclusive gambling partner of their organization. On top of that title, Caesars is set to get access to the clubs’ logos and marks and will even get shown on television broadcasts for the team.
Caesars Entertainment CEO, Tom Reeg, was incredibly happy with the deal. He said, “Caesars can provide White Sox fans and sports fans across the state with the very best in sports experiences through our world-class resorts and the recent relaunch of the sportsbooks.”
As it currently stands right now, the state of Illinois is just one out of the 24 states that have some form of sports offering from Caesars themselves. Out of those 24 available states, 17 of them offer online betting of some form. It’s safe to say that Caesars is expanding as much as possible moving forward.
Buffalo Bills New Stadium Naming Rights Up For Grabs; Barstool Among Frontrunners
The Buffalo Bills have a brand-new stadium on the way and they’ll be looking to partner with a gaming brand when it’s ready. When it officially opens, there could very well be a bidding war over the naming rights to the property – especially given how good the Bills franchise is right now.
The current naming rights of their stadium is held by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield but gaming brands are expected to get in the mix. Blue Cross Blue Shield is a health insurance company but they haven’t yet committed to transferring their rights to the new property.
Barstool Sports could potentially get themselves into the mix as they feel this could be a proper brand fit for them. Founder Dave Portnoy did mention that his team could be a possible naming rights holder.
If Barstool or some other gaming company is able to grab the naming rights to the new stadium, they would be the third stadium to partner with a betting brand. Caesars Entertainment was able to get naming rights to the Superdome in New Orleans and Hard Rock was able to get the Miami Dolphins stadium naming rights.